Some oBike users in Australia have reportedly been struggling to recover their deposits, which users pay when they sign up for the bike-sharing service via the app.

FTI Consulting has been appointed provisional liquidators for oBike's parent company in Singapore and in a statement said it was working with the Singaporean Government to collect bikes from around the city and to recover deposits owed to customers.

"The Provisional Liquidators are aware of the media reports surrounding the refunds requested by deposit holders," the statement read.

"[We] will be liaising with the company's director and shareholder/founders regarding this issue and to discuss whether it is their intention to provide such a refund."

Bikes clutter public space

oBike is one of four dockless bike-sharing operators in Sydney.

Between them, the other operators — Ready Go, ofo and mobike — have thousands of bikes littered around inner Sydney and Melbourne, regularly spotted up trees, abandoned around parks, in waterways and on footpaths.

Councils had complained their workers were left to pick them up and the Sydney council of Waverley even impounded dozens of them they had collected from public spaces.

Business model about data, not rental fees

Bike-sharing companies make a large portion of their profits by selling users' data to other companies, according to Kim Doh, a senior industry analyst with IBIS World.

"The business model for bike-sharing services has more to do with data mining, advertising and turning a profit for interest on deposits on the bike rental … as opposed to the $2 per 30 minutes they get from the person riding it," she said.

Ms Doh said growing public awareness of data privacy and concern about data breaches made the companies vulnerable.

The main hurdles for all bike-sharing companies in Australia, she said, would be vandalism and managing supply and demand.

"At the moment in Melbourne and Singapore there are just way too many bike sharing start-ups and not enough riders," she said.

"There are too many bikes flooding the street — that ultimately leads to chaos and vandalism."

The other key problem was government regulations and the huge fines the companies are faced with from councils.

"If they want to continue operating in Australia they're going to have to negotiate with the government to find something that will work for both sides," she said.

Despite the company's troubles in Australia and Singapore, oBike has just expanded in Europe — recently starting operations in the Italian cities of Florence and Milan.